PGA (Ryder)

“There’s just not much about the PGA Golf Club that a serious golfer won’t like.” Wrote Rob Armstrong in Golfing Florida’s Best. “It’s modern. It’s high-tech. It’s efficient, friendly, accommodating, and reasonably priced. From the moment you’re told that you can’t tip the folks who unload your clubs onto the golf cart to the moment they tell you again that they don’t take tips for cleaning your clubs and putting them back in your trunk after your round, the place is first class.”

The Ryder course at the PGA Golf Club – formerly called the North course – is named in honour of Samuel Ryder, the English entrepreneur and founder of the “official” Ryder Cup who also donated the solid gold trophy. “The Ryder course is lovely and tranquil,” wrote Rob Armstrong, “but difficult. Typical of Fazio’s best courses, it is extremely fair. Together, the two courses [Wanamaker and Ryder] could serve as a model for aspiring modern golf course designers. An in depth analysis of how Fazio combined what nature put there with what man and his machines could add could make up a text for a post-graduate seminar.”

There is a distinct Carolina-feel to the 7,038-yard Ryder course, with subtle undulations, mature pine trees and plenty of water. Rob Armstrong sums it up perfectly: “If Tom Fazio’s Wanamaker course is a three-star gourmet feast, the Ryder course is mom’s home cooking. It is immensely satisfying and it is something you want to return to again and again.”